Jo Boaler facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Jo Boaler
Jo Boaler, 2013
Born	1964 (age 60–61) England, United Kingdom
Nationality	British
Alma mater	Liverpool University King's College London
Scientific career
Fields	Mathematics education
Institutions	Stanford University
Doctoral advisor	Paul Black Mike Askew

Jo Boaler (born 1964) is a British expert in mathematics education. She is a professor at Stanford University in the Stanford Graduate School of Education. Jo Boaler works to make math learning better and fairer for all students. She helps promote new ways of teaching math.

She is also a co-founder and director of youcubed. This is a center at Stanford that gives helpful math resources to teachers, students, and parents. Jo Boaler has written or helped write many books about math, including Limitless Mind and Mathematical Mindsets.

Jo Boaler's Early Life and Schooling

Jo Boaler grew up near Birmingham, England. Her mother was a secretary, and her father was a technical draftsman. Jo Boaler's first math classes were not very exciting. But then, a special teacher showed her class a more supportive and team-based way to learn math.

In 1985, Jo Boaler earned a degree in Psychology from Liverpool University. She then started teaching math to older students in London schools. Later, she earned a master's degree in Mathematics Education in 1991 from King's College London. She also completed her PhD in math education there. In 1997, she won an award for the best PhD in education from the British Educational Research Association.

Jo Boaler's Career in Education

Jo Boaler started her career teaching math in secondary schools in London. After teaching, she continued her studies in math education. She earned her master's and PhD degrees from King's College London.

Early in her career, Jo Boaler studied how students learned math using different teaching methods. She followed groups of students over time to see what worked best.

Moving to the United States

In 1998, Jo Boaler became a professor at Stanford University. She joined the Graduate School of Education.

In 2000, she received an award from the National Science Foundation (NSF). This award helped her study students in California over a long period. This study became known as the Railside study. It looked at how students did in three schools in northern California. The study compared traditional math teaching with newer, reform-based methods. The results of this study were published in 2008. They showed good results and helped support new ways of teaching math.

Returning to England

In 2006, Jo Boaler moved back to the United Kingdom. She became a Marie Curie professor at Sussex University. While in England, she wrote two books: What's Math Got To Do With It? and The Elephant in the Classroom.

Back in California

In 2010, Jo Boaler returned to Stanford University. She continued her work as a Professor of Mathematics Education.

In 2013, Jo Boaler taught a very large online course called "How to Learn Math." This course was for teachers and parents. It taught them new ways to help students learn math and feel less afraid of it. Over 40,000 people took the course. Most of them said they would change how they taught math.

Jo Boaler's research also looks at the problems with putting students into different math groups based on their ability. She has also studied how timed math tests can make students feel anxious about math. She has also explored how making mistakes and having a "growth mindset" can help students learn. A growth mindset means believing you can get better at things with effort.

In 2013, Jo Boaler started youcubed.org with Cathy Williams. This website offers inspiring math resources for teachers.

In 2014, the San Francisco Unified School District changed its math program. They removed algebra from public middle schools. All students were placed in the same math curriculum. This new curriculum was based a lot on Jo Boaler's ideas. It had students work together on math tasks. Jo Boaler and her colleagues supported this change. They said that fewer 9th graders had to repeat algebra after the change.

Jo Boaler also shared her thoughts on New York State's 2015 math curriculum. She felt it focused too much on speed and memorizing facts. She thought it did not help students think creatively about numbers.

California's 2021 Math Framework

Jo Boaler was one of the main writers of the 2021 mathematics framework for California. This framework suggests new ways to teach math in schools. It is based on the work of Jo Boaler and youcubed. After some delays, the framework was approved in July 2023.

Awards and Honors

• 2014: NCSM (National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics) Kay Gilliland Equity Award
• 2016: The California Mathematics Council Walter Denham Memorial Award for Leadership
• 2019: The Nomellini–Olivier Endowed Chair

See also

• Math wars